I bought my "used" 2000 LX a couple weeks before Christmas 2007 from a local new/used dealer. In fact, drove it home in a snow storm. Any case, even though it is a used car I still find it useful to keep a log of all repairs *AND* gas mileage.

I keep a log book in the glove compartment and write down all the information right after filling up. I also keep a spread sheet with the gas mileage and post that to the web page.. I also keep all the gas receipts, don't know why but I do.

75,000 miles on the odometer when I bought it,
105,000 miles after the last fill-up
Best gas mileage came from a Penn. state gas station near the NY border with a trip to and from Gettysburg PA. All hi-way miles. Worst gas mileage was in March 2010 with a sputtering problem my self, another mechanic, and a Ford dealer are trying to diagnose.

I need to keep a log book at least of the fill-ups and maintenance...need to do it for all the vehicles to be honest.

2007 Bone stock. 36k miles.

High so far 39 mpg ~65mph w/out a/c for 190 straight miles.

Average 30-32 mpg during the week. 50 mile round trip commute each day. Approximately 20 miles highway, 5 city each way. I run 75 mph in the morning on the highway and 65 coming home because of traffic.

i just got back from a massive road trip from Michigan around Florida and back. Total miles traveled was 3,802. Total amount spent on gas was $262.12 for 93 octane. That comes out to 14.5 miles per dollar. Considering the average price of 93 octane on the trip was $2.80, that comes out to 40.6 miles per gallon. This is on a 03 2.3L ZX3 5spd.

I have a 2001 LX (SPI) automatic. I usually get between 30 and 35 mpg for daily driving (depends where I'm driving). Highway (~60 mph) is typically 36-38, but on the freeway (75+ mph) it drops to an average of 31 or so.

Attention ScanGauge owners... here are some tips to get you over 40mpg:
- short shift through the gears at 1500rpm. Some say shift at 2000rpm, but you can shift closer to 1500 without lugging the engine. Those with auto trannies, burp the throttle to trick the trans into short shifting.
- By short shifting, you can get into 5th gear at around 27-28 mph. I know, it sounds crazy slow to be in top gear already, but it won't lug if you're easy on the throttle.
- Once you reach 5th gear, keep an eye on your % engine load and throttle position (signals LOD and TPS on the ScanGauge). As you are accelerating up from about 30mph, you want to keep the throttle no higher than 28%. At 30-35mph, this will put the engine load at about 75-80%. As you build speed, the LOD will come down, which is what you want. The sweet spot (where the engine is generating the most amount of power for a given amount of fuel... aka 'brake specific fuel consumption') is around 40-45mph with LOD around 64-66% and TPS around 30%. Keep in mind, these are figures you want to target while ACCELERATING up to speed. Once you exceed around 45mph, and if you need to go faster, then try to keep the LOD at around 65% but the TPS will need to go higher. So TPS goes up with speed, and LOD comes down with speed. At highway speeds, you'll accelerate with LOD at 65% and TPS will be around 35%.

You want to get LOD down to 65% as soon as possible. Like I said, at the slower speeds, when first reaching 5th gear, the engine load will be close to 80%. Let it accelerate with TPS close to 28% for a few seconds, but ease out of the throttle to reach 65% LOD as early as possible, maybe backing off to 26% TPS, while still maintaining acceleration.

Your instantaneous fuel economy will be around 27-30mpg WHILE ACCELERATING if you do the above, and then increase to well over 40mpg once you reach steady state cruising speed. As long as you're not doing a lot of stop and go where you have to constantly stop and then accelerate, you should be able to get up over 40mpg for your average FE.

Avoid using cruise control on hilly roads... you can do a better job with your foot. Before you reach an uphill, gently increase speed before you reach the incline. Then hold a steady throttle as you climb. You will gradually lose some speed as you climb, but let it go a bit below your target speed, because you will likely get it back on the downhill side, or when the road flattens out. Notice that truckers tend to drive this way.

Coast in gear as long as possible whenever you approach a stop sign or traffic light that will turn red. The goal is to use the brakes the least amount, which just wastes your kinetic energy into brake heat. Your fuel economy will be best when you're using the brakes the least.

Shut off the engine for any red light longer than about 10 seconds. It's amazing how much fuel is wasted while idling. Same goes for drive-thru windows. Just set your scangauge to trip average fuel economy (signal AVG) and watch it drop-drop-drop as you idle. Don't worry about wear and tear on the starter. Your fuel savings will be worth it in the long run. Maybe the starter will last 5 years instead of 10 years. This one technique saves me more than a gallon per week... which is over $100 per year.

I don't draft behind semi's, not only for safety reasons, but also so that I don't have to use my brakes as much. If I leave a fairly big space ahead of me, then I can use that room for coasting once traffic slows down, and avoid use of the brakes.

Hypermilers refer to a "pulse and glide" technique, which yields amazing fuel economy figures. The "glide" is simply coasting, with or without the engine running. Obviously, gliding with the engine off gives the best result, but is deemed unsafe by many since you lose power steering and vacuum in the brake booster. Keep in mind that there is a checkvalve in the brake booster which traps enough vacuum in the booster with the engine off for several brake applies, and the Focus is a small enough car that you can turn through intersections safely without power steering, as long as you are familiar with how much steering effort is required... fairly easy with two hands... kinda difficult with just one hand on the wheel. Not recommended for everyone, for sure.
The "pulse" is simply the acceleration up to speed, using the target LOD and TPS that works best for your car. The numbers I quoted are what I've zeroed in on for my 06 ZX3, but will be close for just about any passenger car engine. Simply put, it gets the car up to speed using the least amount of energy (gasoline), because it keeps the engine operating near it's most efficient range. You can "pulse" up to speed and get about 30mpg while accelerating, and then "glide" with engine off using no fuel at all. So if you pulse for 20 seconds and then glide for 20 seconds (rough example) and then take the average fuel economy over the entire cycle, you'll achieve 60mpg. No exaggeration. So accelerating and coasting is more efficient overall than cruising at steady state. If you don't want to glide with the engine off, you can glide with the engine running and still realize an increase in FE. You can experiment with this too in an automatic transmission car. You must be very gentle with the throttle after you've reached your cruising speed though. The idea is to accelerate up to a few mph above your target speed, and then ease back on the throttle just a TINY amount. You'll notice that the speed will hang up above your target speed for many seconds, slowing down only very slowly. During this time, the engine will increase the spark advance (timing... signal IGN on the scangauge), which gives the engine a more efficient combustion cycle, giving slightly better fuel economy. Keep the throttle there until you slow down to a few mph below your target speed, then gently ease back into the throttle being careful not to cause a downshift, and try to hit the 65% LOD target while accelerating back up to a few mph above your target cruise speed. Repeat pulsing and gliding, and you should see a gain in FE.

Not wanting to start a debate on whether or not the engine should be shut off while gliding, so let's not talk about that technique anymore... just be aware that that is how people get numbers over 50mpg.

Doing all other techniques I've mentioned should get you over 40mpg. The ScanGauge really helps, because you have absolutely no idea how much pedal is needed to achieve 30% throttle opening. For those without a scangauge, I can tell you that the throttle plate position is at about 14-15% at idle with your foot off the gas pedal, and it takes about 1/2" of pedal travel to reach 30% TPS. But the scangauge really helps you to keep the LOD in the desired band, and you really have no clue how to do this without a scangauge. Resist the temptation to accelerate with 75% LOD instead of 65% LOD, because the fuel economy drops off pretty rapidly.

On my SG, I use these 4 signals most often... LOD, TPS, AVG and degWT (coolant temp). The engine gets pretty bad FE until the engine is warmed up above around 150-160deg. In the winter, the FE is downright horrible until warmed up.

Of course, this is all great if your goal is to achieve 40+ mpg, and you consider this to be "fun". It's like a video game, and can make a boring drive more interesting. Of course, winding it out through the gears to redline every once in a while is fun too!!

Further note, I only do these techniques on multi-lane roads where people are free to pass me in the fast lane, or when there is nobody behind me. I accelerate up to about 5mph over the limit, and then glide down to about 5 under the limit, unless there is somebody right behind me. I have never been honked at. The acceleration rate is definitely slower than most on the road, but it's right on par with your typical "grandpa" driver, so it's not TOTALLY unreasonable. Just giving you an idea of what to expect.

Anyway... those with scangauges... feel free to give it a try for a week and report back your results!!

neat info about the scangauge... I was just about to post something about mine.

personally I haven't questioned the accuracy of it, but my parents have because they can't believe my "old" car gets a better highway mileage than their 2010 mazda3. I tried explaining it but they just said "the gauge is wrong. you can't trust those things."

so a few days ago, I filled up with exactly 11 gallons, reset my scangauge and entered all the correct info. also reset my trip meter on the car.

I will be watching it until I'm totally empty again and have to fill up. the gauge has a "tank mpg" function, so I'm hoping that average comes out to the same (at least whole number) mpg as doing it the traditional way.

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